CALGARY, Alberta – Julian Demiglio of the Stouffville Spirit will play for Team Canada East at the 2024 Junior A World Challenge, Hockey Canada announced Thursday. The tournament runs from Dec. 9-15 in Camrose, Alberta.
Demiglio, in his second season in Stouffville, is an assistant captain with the Spirit. The 18-year-old from neighbouring Richmond Hill has 29 points (7G/22A) in 29 games for the 16-11-0-3 Spirit.
Committed to NCAA Division I RIT in Rochester, NY, Demiglio represented Stouffville at the Battle of Ontario Jr. A challenge in Smiths Falls last month.
Ontario Junior Hockey League on the roster include six members of the defending national champion Collingwood Blues: goaltender Noah Tegelaar, defencemen Cam Eke, Nolan Egelton and Hudson Martin and forwards Ethan Facchina and Jack Rimmer.
Other OJHL selections include: Julian Demiglio (Stouffville Spirit), Jonathan Kapageridis (Cobourg Cougars), Ryder Cali (Milton Menace), Dylan McFadden (Buffalo Jr. Sabres), Andrea Mikrogiannakis (Aurora Tigers) and Matthew Souliere (Trenton Golden Hawks).
Hockey Canada invited 60 players from the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL) to Canada East and Canada West selection camp in advance in Calgary this week.
The Canada East roster was selected from the CJHL’s five eastern leagues: the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL), Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL), Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL), Ligue de hockey junior AAA du Québec (LHJAAAQ) and Maritime Hockey League (MHL).
“Anytime there is an opportunity to bring together the best Junior A players from across the Canadian Junior Hockey League, we know difficult decisions will have to be made,” said Scott Salmond, Hockey Canada’s senior vice-president of high performance and hockey operations. “We feel we have assembled two strong and competitive teams that will proudly represent Canada and compete for a gold medal.”
Canada West included players from the four western leagues: the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL), Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL), Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) and Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL).
Ahead of the tournament, the Canadian teams will play a pair of pre-tournament games on Dec. 7. Canada East will face off against Sweden at the Drumheller Memorial Arena at 3 p.m. MT, while Canada West will play the United States at 4:30 p.m. MT at Co-Op Place in Wetaskiwin.
The puck drops on the tournament Dec. 9 when Canada East, the 2023 silver medallist, opens against the United States at 3 p.m. MT, followed by Canada West, the defending gold medallist, facing Sweden at 7:30 p.m. MT.
TSN and RDS, the official broadcast partners of Hockey Canada, will broadcast the bronze medal and gold medal games; check local listings for details.
All preliminary-round games and both semifinals will be available via Hockey Canada’s livestreaming partner at HNLive.ca.
Of the 16 gold medal games at the Junior A World Challenge, 13 have featured at least one Canadian team. Canada East will look to earn its first gold medal, having won silver eight times (2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2019, 2022, 2023) and bronze once (2008), while Canada West has won gold six times (2006, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2017, 2023), silver three times (2008, 2009, 2012) and bronze twice (2013, 2018).
For more information on Hockey Canada and the 2024 Junior A World Challenge, please visit HockeyCanada.ca/WJAC,
